Walk, Run, Stumble
by RedNightBird
Summary: The continuation of A Wonderful Conundrum and A Wonderful Opportunity. Chapters are broken into smaller segments. Thank-you for reading.
1. Chapter 1

**This series picks up after the "A Wonderful Opportunity" Series.**

Previously in my world (And you are welcome to it) Beth's health condition has required an internal cardiac defibrillator to be implanted; she lost the early pregnancy she had with Josh.

Josh was shot and he survived thanks to Mick and Beth's CPR efforts. While he was recuperating he was visited by the spirits of his child and Dad, he was tipped off he had a good number of years ahead of him.

Mick and Beth return to the loft to find a package (which Mick does not divulge to Beth) that is 'the cure'.

My previous posts had been lengthy, so I've cut these into chapters that you can enjoy as you have time. _Thanks for reading!_

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The following chapter features lyrics of 'No One Else' by Natalie Walker

**Walk, Run, Stumble…..#1 / No One Else**

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_Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand._ ~Emily Kimbrough

"What was it?" Beth's eyes followed the movements of his hands as Mick closed up the box exactly as he had received it. His eyebrows were knitted together as he frowned, thin lipped. He took off for the office and withdrew a roll of packing tape and wound is vigorously around the package.

Was he returning the package? Beth was confused, yet this was just another time when Mick the vampire didn't let her in. Could she take this when she didn't expect it? How well did she know the man in this relationship? She dared not follow him, not out of fear, yet out of respect.

Hadn't this man just saved her ex-boyfriend, had saved her life? She owed him privacy in his own home. She heard shuffling, metallic sounds of drawers opening, closing, and his arriving footsteps and then he was here…. With a transformed face, completely transfixed by her adoring eyes, he was her Mick again. How did he do that?

What was the way they got by each other's hidden selves? Space, they gave each other "Space" and by saying they trusted each other when they weren't together.

Tonight Mick thought about going for the full release, make it or break it. He'd have to see how far he could take it before he fought the raw sybaritic power of his inner vamp. He was hoping for the best, giving the two of them the most enduring and sensual experience a couple could have and he was prepared for the worse, he'd get that mahogany stake out of the closet and leave it by the bed table.

Then tomorrow, he'd talk with Beth about the cure. "Let's grab some sustenance before we head upstairs, OK?" Mick tried to pry her gaze from the office door. Was Beth expecting the box to walk out by itself?

"Sure," Beth circled around the bar and slid up behind Mick as he reached into the back panel fridge. She caught his eye in the reflection and demurely grinned as her hand blindly felt the drawer for the stack of take out menus. She rested her cheek on his shoulder and took in his cool calm. They knew it was a balm on their souls to be home.

Mick reached for the bag and a tumbler all while Beth stayed attached to his back.

"Are you OK?" He thought she was a bit clingy tonight.

"I just want to cuddle, feel you. . . . . . Hold you. You know, be naked together" She purred her desire and Mick downed the A+.

Between them it had been truly divine, they had stripped slowly and showered then they fell into the bed and melted between each other's vigorous limbs. While their bodies clung to each other, his furiously hard cock drilled slowly, deliberately. She held him tightfisted deep within her, her legs around his hips rising to his stroke, answering his deep rumble with sighs and cries begging for more. Their dance had been playfully attentive, a vertical waltz that ended with both of them covered with Beth's sweet sweat.

Mick was enveloped in the reality that she was alive and loving him. Beth was awash in the thrill of Mick accepting himself and loving her. The night birds had ceased their singing when Mick rose silently from their bed and climbed into his freezer. As his consciousness dimmed he finally welcomed the peace his vampire nature brought him and he wondered what Beth was dreaming.

_**Butterflies…..**_

_**Gravity pulls me into anticipate our first touch**_

_**Sweet and so new**_

_**Let's figure out how to make this forever, Oh this is making me crazy**_

"If there was a way, a way for me to be human, how would you feel?" Mick held Beth over his chest, her breasts were warm and she smelled of their sex. He was giddy with the smell of her juices drying on him and the fact that he had left her quivering and full of his cum.

"Like Morgan?" All Beth could recall was Morgan stalking them.

"She was on a cure" Mick's finger tips trailed lazy circles on her soft back.

"How long would you be human?" Beth was calm; they'd always had discussions of his angst and unhappiness at his nature. This was a breakthrough and she was curious.

"A dose masks the effects about 11, 12 months" Their eyes met and he saw her reticence, was she in love with the vampire or what she thought was the vampire?

"We'll have to make a spreadsheet, you know like Ann Landers would tell people the list the pros and cons" Beth seemed exceptionally level headed for a woman sleeping with a vampire.

"A list of pros and cons?" Mick thought about it, took a second look at her and gave her a wry smile.

"I guess no more cool vampire jumpy thing?" her smile came straight from her heart as she walked her fingers up the center of his chest, "No more drinking blood, biting, sleeping in a freezer" she pronounced each thing as she tapped at a curve of his pecs, "What about drug side effects?" Beth rose up on one elbow, her head on her chin, "You know, like the guy on TV and his mentioning the 4 hour erection?" She had tried to be serious, but that line gave her away and she collapsed on his chest with a giggle.

His nodding continued as he waited for her to list more sins of his undead flesh. That was it, that's all she saw. She hadn't been there for the hellish early years.

"I could be with you, in bed every night, we could grow older together for maybe as long as 3 years" His voice rumbled from his chest, while the unspoken reasons moored there deep. He could love her as a man with no fear; he would know a good meal together with her.

"Is that all the time you see for us, 3 years?" Beth grew serious, what happened to forever?

"No, Beth, that's not what I meant, I mean that out of our time together , we'd have 3 human years for me, for us" He seemed to smooth that over, not understanding exactly how he did it.

"What would you do for a living? I mean isn't a lot of your skill at being a PI being a vampire?" Beth was right back to the practical; Mick had a jar of spent bullets he had pulled out himself, could he be as successful being mortal? Was Mick due for a career makeover too?

"I have some money put away, I could try doing something else I guess, if you were worried" There was more to this than just eating, breathing and getting back his beating heart. In the end, if he survived 3 years he'd be back to pulling lead out of himself and sleeping alone in a freezer.

There was no way to convince Beth that being a vampire was just about his diet and sleeping habits, she didn't know what he had done between 1952 and 1985. In 33 years a vampire wreaks a lot of havoc and Mick remembered the lion's share of it.

Beth's attention span only lasted as long as that, she became fascinated with the trail of hair down the center of his chest, the flat of her hand skimmed it, giving him a quiver, and then she followed the line to his thatch of pubic hair to play with his reawakening cock. They had been bouncing it back and forth and he didn't have the overwhelming satisfaction at deciding to re-enter the human coil. Mick threw himself back into their physicality and pushed the discussion aside, sometimes it's better to be paralyzed with indecision than to be paralyzed by your decision.

_**Hey love I am at the point of no restraint…..**_

_**Let's just make a move and feel the earth quake**_

_**It's just you and me and no one else**_

_**It's just you and me, you and me**_

Friday, February 1, 2008

The day Josh got released from the hospital they were there….. Mick's Benz was outside the hospital, passenger door open while the orderly rolled Josh to the curb. Behind them, Beth pushed a cart of dish gardens that had nearly outgrown their ceramic bowls. His halting steps with the cane from the curb to the car seat brought them all a smile and then three very human riders sped off to get Josh settled in his beachfront studio apartment.

_**Slowly now, we shouldn't let this go too fast**_

_**Bring me out of this shell, take off my mask**_

_**This is us intertwined and on fire**_

_**I cannot stop, I'm consumed with desire**_

Monday, February 10th, 2010

Mick's "human" body was adjusting; he was eating the food of the 21st century with a 20 century body. Beth had filled the kitchen counter with a large Kitchenaide stand mixer, cranking out home cooked meals, home baked cookies and anything that looked good on the cover of Bon Appétit.

Along with the kitchen gadgets another delivery was made….a Pilates Reformer (exercise machine) that slid under the stair because Mick's predilection for food ran more toward the Prime Rib at Musso's than a vegetable stir fry. Beth slid the contraption where Mick would see it from the kitchen, so the constant thought was "a minute on the lips, years of the hips" after all the metabolism slows down after 85!

This evening, Mick stood at the island, knife in hand making julienne strips of chicken while Beth opened a bottle of Malbec. Their kitchen partnership had become seamless, he was prep and she was assembly. Together they did cleanup. It gave them more time to bump hips and clown around.

"Mick, I go back to work on the 18th" She almost whined at the thought of leaving her comfortable schedule of getting up, walking on the beach, writing her journal and best of all spending nights with Mick at the loft. He'd boot her out, dropping her home as he left for work at Kostan Industries.

"Then I guess we really have to celebrate on the 14th, besides it's our first Valentine's Day" Mick leaned over and kissed the back of her neck, eliciting a shiver of delight from Beth.

"Yes, it is, and I have so much to do before Monday….. A haircut, a manicure, pick up some dry cleaning, get an oil change, pick up groceries. I'm going to be so busy between now and then…." She was ticking off things from her to do list, when a stray hair fell into her face, she stopped speaking to blow the hair off her face. Mick had been watching her, it was a perfect moment for him to brush the hair back behind her ear and tenderly kiss the ear that caught the stray hair.

"Don't be too busy for a kiss, OK?" He had softened so much in these past 2 weeks; his voice was rarely on edge. His eyes were calm blue green pools of relaxation. Whenever Beth needed a hug his arms were gentle and warm, yes, he was inordinately warm from the man she had first known. His beard grew faster, he fussed and fretted over keeping his nails clipped and clean. Beth joked about the primping in the bathroom; his hair had already grown almost a half inch.

"You remind me of a teenager" She grinned, head turned to return the kiss.

"What?" he feigned hurt feelings.

"You've awoken and all the things we find tedious you are reveling in them, like a teenage boy just getting to shave…" Beth was right; he was enjoying all his body's responses to appearing "alive". The things that took months to change, his beard, hair and nails were regenerating and earning his rapt attention.

"I just like to look my best for you, babe" he approached from the back, wrapping his arms around her waist and nuzzling her neck. He no longer saw the active roadmaps of veins; all he saw was creamy skin lightly dotted with pale freckles. He wanted to kiss each freckle only now time was finite and he found himself "scheduling" time to be together, between work and the sleep he seemed to need, how did couples with small children do this? Mick thought about that a lot.. …. …..

"You'll always have that perpetual cool to me" Beth shifted deeper into his caress and returned gentle sighs.

_**Hey love I am at the point of no restraint…..**_

_**Let's just make a move and feel the earth quake**_

_**it's just you and me and no one else**_

_**it's just you and me, you and me**_

Tuesday, February 11, 2008

Josh took plenty of time weighing his options. He had his small home packed up as it had been holding far too many _"Beth"_ memories after all. He'd be happier in the studio with the beach view, it would give him time to take his physical therapy and reevaluate what he'd be doing with his 40 hours each week.

Tejada and the HEM were going to be someone else's problem, not his; he had given pints of blood on the ground in Griffith Park. Some guy by the name of Ben Talbot could fight the good fight now, Josh thought as he took measured steps to the studio. Carl had given him a dapper looking walking stick, carved briar wood with a tipped scale of justice, "you always knew justice wasn't balanced" Carl said when Josh remarked the uneven level of the two sides, Josh knew justice wasn't the only uneven thing in life.

He didn't sleep, at least not more than 2 or 3 hours. His gait had been maligned by a misshapen piece of bullet that ricocheted off his spine. He walked, he had feeling in his legs, he just was going to take a few months of dogged determination to see it came all the way back. The guy who had played pickup basketball games now huffed and puffed with trips to the car, his one lung still healing from the thru and thru gun shot.

He settled in the apartment and began a new life alone just when he had been planning to be a married man. His dreams of Chris and his Dad would come and go, he still hadn't figured out if Chris was a girl or a boy, he just knew it was their child because Chris was just too much like Beth – always curious.

Once he deposited the checks from the sale of his home and his settlement he set up his computer to begin to crawl out of the grip of the grey, grey gloves that had held him for weeks. He'd begin writing, first because he had the time and secondly because he couldn't NOT write about the experience of being held and shot and coming back into life. Writing led to research, which led to snooping and uncovering things he never thought to believe.

Beth's parents had never really divorced. Bob Turner wined and dined Josie Barker then when Josie decided she'd go back to work Bob decided to let her see what it was to work and he left. Beth was 3 years old when he sent the $500 check with a chicken shit good-bye note. It had taken Beth a long time to admit to Josh anything about her parents' lack of commitment. It had been in the back of his mind that he wanted to find Bob Turner and tell him what kind of resilient daughter he had, he had never had the time to find the bastard, now he did. _Josh was going to do some digging in Bob Turner's dirty past._

Mick looked into the mirror. Was it his imagination? Was he fixated on his appearance? All of his life, all eighty some years he'd get to a stage, perhaps at decades when he'd look at himself and gauge….where had he been? Where was he going? What had he accomplished or what had he botched? He was trying to remember his 20th birthday, when he was "high and tight", ready to ship out to Europe. He was JEEP, "just enough education to pass" on a boat, clutching his medic pack as some 90 day wonder pontificated on the strength of the platoon and how they would singlehandedly whoop Hitler, or Mussolini. Hoooah. By the time he had done his time as a ground pounder he returned to the States a different Mick St John.

30, by the time he had arrived there….. Mick had already cuckolded his best friend and wandered Los Angeles night spots, guitar in one hand and a libertine woman in the other. Then there was Coraline, the woman who pulled him thru the frayed curtain of life. In those mentally dark hours he figured she had taken his life in retribution for the waste he had laid between 20 and 30.

Then Chronos, the God of Time, pressed his finger on the FF button of Mick's life and he was 40….what had he done by 40? It was more a case of who he hadn't done… every one of the red headed Freshies, a few of the brunettes. They were grudge fucks and forceful feedings, there were sexual gymnastics with a covey of Freshies that left the bed linens awash in blood and spent fluids.

Before he could remember how much of his wife's income was wasted on his splitting the wishbone of each of his freshies he was looking at 1982, he was 50. An age when most men buy a Corvette and date 19 year old girls, he was still driving his 62 vintage Benz and suckling his meals at their throats….. Yet these vain and empty interactions were coming around the bend.

1985, the woman called him, distraught did not begin to describe her mood. She made short time to get to his office and under cover of the night he followed her to her small home. Josie Turner didn't have to lead him to Beth's tiny bedroom; on entering the ranch home he scented the dragon, Coraline. Beth's picture in hand, he went about the task of reeling in his wayward wife and took on vanquishing the dragon woman with a stake and fire. Mick carried the towheaded pixie to his car, his heart heavy at the need to break an age old taboo and kill his sire.

Mick passed the wide eyed child to Josie and began to turn away; she had already passed the three fifty dollar bills to him before he left to find Beth. She owed him nothing more. A gentle hand grabbed at him, "Mr. St John, please, come in for a moment".

Mick followed Josie while Beth's cornflower blue eyes stayed locked on his face. The house still reeked of vampire to Mick, he cringed slightly as he sat on the sofa she gestured to. "Will you hold Beth for a moment? I'll be right back" Beth fell back into his arms, melted into his lap. Her slight pale body was weightless as she clung to him. Her tiny finger went to his lips as she traced where a fang could descend, "where did it go?" Beth's head tilted to see him from another angle.

"What go?" Mick asked innocently, giving her a perfectly normal smile. Josie returned from her bedroom, clenching something in her fist.

"Mr. St John, I never expected to get Beth back alive. You brought me my baby, I can't pay you enough, I want you to have this…..It was my Grandfather's it came from France" Josie sat beside Mick and dropped the necklace in her lap as she disconnected the clasp, she held out the fleury cross and the glint of the white gold caught the light.

"It's too much" Mick declined, waving her off with a polite gesture, all the while holding Beth with his other arm, she was warm and smelled like bubblegum shampoo.

"Please, wear it for us. It's been in the family for generations, my Dad is dead, Beth's Dad well, you know he's gone….." Josie nodded, holding the necklace out further, Mick reached for it cautiously – was it silver or white gold? How would he explain that phenomena? His finger touched it, no burning, he leaned into the open necklace and Josie connected it around his neck. The cross fell down his shirt, into the hollow of his chest where it warmed him.

He looked at his very human reflection, the single grey hair that has arrived this morning, at every good place in his life Beth had been there…..for him, there is simply no one else.

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The next chapter features lyrics of The Police, 'King of Pain'

**Walk, Run, Stumble #2 King of Pain**

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_**There's a little black spot on the sun today it's the same old thing as yesterday**_

_**There's a black hat caught in a high tree top, there's a flag-pole rag and the wind won't stop**_

_**I have stood here before inside the pouring rain**_

_**With the world turning circles running 'round my brain**_

_**I guess I'm always hoping that you'll end this reign, but it's my destiny to be the king of pain**_

Thursday, February 14, 2008

These days of adjustment were full of discoveries, most of the time Mick was at peace, no longer constantly filtering the cacophony of the world through vampire senses. He was able to look at Beth and see the beautiful woman he was in love with; he no longer saw the Rand McNally map of veins and the throb of her pulse. Out in the world he enjoyed holding an offered handshake, no longer concerned of the chilly impression he gave.

On the flip side he was confounded by the time it took to be human these days. He had to sleep no less than 8 hours a night and when Beth wasn't beside him, Mick churned up the sheets like sea foam on a tormented shoreline. Then there was getting back and forth to work, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning and doing laundry… And there was the grooming, the products Beth suggested "anti-aging" eye balms, anti-fatigue gel, pre-shave oil, after shave balm and the time to use them in the right order. Was it serum then balm or balm then serum?

By the time they turned in at night he was weary, Beth frequently nudged him awake to come upstairs to bed and he snored her to her sleep. Beth didn't complain at his hoarse vibrations, he was in bed with her and there when she woke in the morning. They danced in their sleep; spooned together his hands would wander around her waist and hold her close now and again venturing down to comb his fingers between her legs. His cock would tremble and throb at her cheeks and if they weren't too weary they'd make love half asleep.

"I'll be damned" he thought, well actually for a long time he thought he really was. Mick swung his legs over the side of the bed and rested his palms on the side of the bed. 6am was way too early to be up. Beth was moving in that somnambulant dance she did each morning, the view was exceptional, her lithe body twisted in the sheets, a bared breast, a flash of her bush. He could have died right here and now and been a happy man for these days he'd been human.

After decades of using barely any hot water he'd become a slave to the hot streams of water that would pommel him awake, he even bought a loofa to polish his skin pink with life. Human's feelings were so wickedly different from what he was used to, now he could let his skin drink in the sunlight. In many ways he felt it took effort to "feel", devoid of vampire senses he had to work to listen, to sense things. He had dropped the body covering long duster in favor of a dress shirt and vest; at least he could roll up his sleeves when he needed to feel the air, the sun, or Beth's touch. By the time he had nearly run thru the hot water he felt a soft hand on his back, "I hope you didn't wake my girlfriend up, if she finds us I a dead man" his whispered without turning around.

"Vampire humor doesn't work anymore, Mick, you have to buy a new joke book" Beth shook her head and stepped around him to get under the water, then yelped "Are you poaching seafood in here? Jeez, Mick", she jumped back around out of the scorching spray, lathering and waiting for him to make a temperature adjustment.

Their usual dance under the shower's spray commenced, their reciprocal cleansing followed by drawn out kisses and slippery embraces. He'd smile at her with those knowing eyes of his and she'd return a "come hither" grin, then her grasp would tighten around his morning-hard cock and they'd lean into each other until they had quenched their appetites. Mornings, he was like bull, hungry and anxious and Beth was keen for their water dance. This was the morning of Valentine's Day and he wanted to take special care to make her entire day extraordinary.

_**There's a little black spot on the sun today (That`s my soul up there)**_

_**It's the same old thing as yesterday (That`s my soul up there)**_

_**There's a black hat caught in a high tree top (That`s my soul up there)**_

_**There's a flag-pole rag and the wind won't stop (That`s my soul up there)**_

Josh's body betrayed him every morning, stiff, he rise from the therapeutic mattress and creak toward the automatic coffee pot for a cup of fresh coffee. In the mirror he'd catch the sight of his posture and his slow steps and he say a prayer of thanks that he was alive. His beard was coming in, he was done shaving every day, it was OK to be scruffy when your job was, well, he really didn't have a job. In a past life Josh had staff that did legwork in investigation; he accepted the proceeds of their labor and made it stick. Case won most of the time. Now he saw why Beth had the tenacity of a bull dog, the hunt was the thrill.

Josh knew when Bob Turner had made it legal with Josie Barker; their public records left a trail of their relationship. Their marriage, Josie giving birth to Beth 7 months later and finally Josie's attempts to obtain a divorce or some support when Bob left her high and dry with a toddler. Josh thought about the face of "shotgun" weddings, the coursing crush of marrying because of a pregnancy and living a lifetime of duty. He had dodged that bullet, and half of him felt grateful, he and Beth weren't ready for the weighty responsibility of parenthood.

Josh delved deeper into Robert Allen Turner, he scrolled back into the 70's and there was more. There was an entire life before Josie Barker. Bob Turner had married Diane Jackson on December 31, 1978 and they had a son June 21st 1979, he was a regular pollinator, a serial procreator. So, now where was Bob Turner? Had he continued the same pattern, how many more families had he "hit and run"? Mildly drained he rose and made a cup of Silver Needle tea, from the housewarming basket Mick and Beth had sitting in the kitchen when he came home. He sat and enjoyed the steam from the cup nestled on his chest. Where did he go from here?

_**I have stood here before inside the pouring rain**_

_**With the world turning circles running 'round my brain**_

_**I guess I'm always hoping that you'll end this reign**_

_**But it's my destiny to be the king of pain**_

The tea went cool while Josh chased his tail in his head back to the first time Beth trembled in bed, she woke with a furious fear and ran from the bed wrapping tightly in the bed quilt she grabbed off him. He watched in the darkness while she huddled in the corner rocking while she repeated an undecipherable mantra. It was the first month they slept together and he wondered if having a man in her bed caused the reaction.

Directly after the case with the Professor Vampire wannabe the nightmares left her shuddering, yet backing into his spooned form, he'd hold her in a tight cocoon whispering gentle words of affection, anything to dispel her anxiety. She'd cling to him, and some nights she turn into his embrace and beg him to love her, then she'd settle back to sleep for a few hours. The alarm would ring and they'd robotically move thru their morning rituals until they'd part at her front door for their respective days alone.

They never spoke about it yet he should have pressed Beth after the bouts. When Morgan Vincent began working at BuzzWire the nightmares suddenly became about Morgan and Mick. Morgan was the lady in white, Mick was her avenging angel. What was that about? Josh didn't have a clue. He spun his college ring on his finger as he reflected on Mick, the thorn in his side until Mick saved his life. The guy was a few years older than he, seemed to be set in that top floor loft on Drexel, how does one do that on a P.I's income?

Michael Andrew St John, born November 12, 1922 to one Ella Russell St John and Andrew Michael St John. US Census records reflected their home in West Adams, and between the 1950 and 1960 census Michael disappeared. How does a human disappear? The mob? Josh went back to simple statistics… licensing, phone records, property titles

Josh was thinking Mick was a ghost and then there was another birth, Michael Russell St John born March 17, 1957 to one Michael Andrew and Coraline DuVall St John. Shit, Josh ran a nervous hand thru his lengthening hair, then over the scruff of his beard. 50 years old….. How in hell does a 50 year old man look 30, 32 years old? Even Dick Clark couldn't pull that off. Josh took a deep breath and closed his eyes….it had to be a different St John. Sure, he had to have traced the wrong St John.

_**There's a fossil that's trapped in a high cliff wall (That`s my soul up there)**_

_**There's a dead salmon frozen in a waterfall (That`s my soul up there)**_

_**There's a blue whale beached by a spring tide's ebb (That`s my soul up there)**_

_**There's a butterfly trapped in a spider's web (That`s my soul up there)**_

Mick didn't have mad vamp skills to get breakfast cooked, he did have a truly dependable delivery service, so Mick left Beth upstairs for her morning primp to "get the coffee ready" Beth always enjoyed a fresh mug of coffee, two Equals and a splash of Nonfat milk.

The roses were outside the front door, the package was in his office, if he could negotiate all the steps in the short amount of time he could look almost as cool as he was as a vampire. Mick grabbed the vase of 3 dozen red roses, slid the package out of the bag and poured the coffee. By the time Beth was stepping on to the first floor Mick was standing with a package in his hand, grinning like the happy man he was… Their "water sports" in the shower, his gift and card along with the roses, he hoped it would get the day off on the right foot…

_**I have stood here before inside the pouring rain**_

_**With the world turning circles running 'round my brain**_

_**I guess I'm always hoping that you'll end this reign**_

_**But it's my destiny to be the king of pain**_

Uncontrolled jealousy, angst it all cooked up until Josh just wanted to box the demon inside of him. Was he really that jealous of Mick? Even thanking him for his life, Josh had to wonder how Mick swept Beth off her feet…

"Isn't it wonderful to celebrate a holiday without either of us hurt or ill?" Beth asked as she leaned back into the sofa, fanning herself with Mick's Valentine card. Beth was overcome by the breakfast celebration, the toasted waffles along with her coffee.

"Yeah, Christmas was a bit of a bust" Mick said, sliding alongside Beth as she peeled back the tape on the gift. He watched her take in the modest box with amorous eyes.

"Oh, Mick, I thought we were celebrating tonight, your gift is at my place" Beth interrupted opening his gift to her, feeling a bit guilty for being unprepared.

"My gift is anywhere you are, Beth, go ahead." Mick nodded then drew a long sip of coffee and set back to watch her reaction to the gift. Mick counted his blessings while she opened the long blue box to reveal a graceful bracelet holding a series of charms; it included a tiny Fleury cross near the clasp.

"O, Mick, it's beautiful, help me put it on" She turned to seek his help and steal a kiss, "you always know exactly what to give me" she moved right into his arms to embrace him for his present, "I'll treasure this, each one of the charms is about us". Beth fingered the small charms, eyeing each one with sweet memories of their short time together. Their love was an open road, with solid feelings behind them and the miles to travel ahead of them

"Well, I guess I need to get dressed and get to work, as much as I'd like to stay and entertain you…duty and Josef call" Mick reluctantly stood from their embrace and walking slowly to the staircase, "I'll drop you off on my way in to work, OK?"

It would be the way most of their mornings had been, or so Mick thought.

Beth settled back to wait for Mick, she held up her arm to watch the sun glint off the charms. She wanted to be grounded with gratitude, she had so much to be grateful for, and yet wheedling in the back of her brain was a gnawing feeling that she was being coddled.

In her dreams she'd replay their first time in bed, the vampire as he took her and thrilled every fiber of her body….my God she thought…..she had been thru so much, they had been thru so much. She found herself stroking the incision on her left shoulder, struck by the numb feeling knowing all the while it was her backup plan.

At Dr. Andrew's approval they had "resumed normal activities" and with Mick being human, well it was different. His brand of love was tender, generous in his attentions to her needs, patient with the time it took for her to rise and crash in his arms. Mick wanted to be human more than anything, his love embodied the very essence of his ardor. Mick deserved her devotion, her support…yet she was counting the months until she'd feel the raw power and thrill of his absolute steel strength, that stretch past reality into the other worldly realm of vampire/human connections.

Beth was bewitched by the memory of his last bite and the entrancing pull of it when her phone warbled Mo's ringtone, "Helter Skelter", Beth answered quite unprepared to speak with Mo before next Monday.

"Girl, I know you're not due back till Monday, talk to that dreamboat surgeon of yours to get released today…. I have a gift for you. This story is going to put you on the map!" Maureen, the steamroller effused, believing her own sales pitch.

Beth was overcome, "I thought you said my dying put me on the map" yet Beth knew the drill, you were only as good as your last big story and it had to be within the past 24 hours…..last December didn't count in February.

"Beth, you've been gone for weeks, sure we still get hits off the story, but you have to get back in the saddle, can you get here this morning?" Maureen pushed.

Beth closed the call, biting her lip she had to be smooth, stay calm, get home and then drive to Buzzwire, Mick didn't need to worry.

Beth's eyes brightened as Mick steered the car out of the garage. "Who was that on the phone?" Mick's curiosity got the best of him, no vamp hearing he did know the ringtone. With Maureen's call Mick knew something was up.

"She wants my advice on a story" Beth confessed, her exhilaration drained by his questioning.

"Just advice, or is it more, Beth?" Mick knew it would be a day spent chasing leads, he knew Maureen's motus operendi.

"She said this story would put me on the map, come on, Mick, this is my career!" She was aggravated by his needling, his stickling for her being out of work until Monday. Mick didn't need vamp sense to know Beth was going to go off on her own, he turned the car left instead of right.

"Where are you going?" she demanded, pushing her palm on the dashboard and turning to face him.

"We are going to BuzzWire together to find out what she wants, you aren't going alone." His eyes stayed on the road as his face turned serious and he bit at his bottom lip, Mick was resolute, determined.

"Yes, Daddy" She pushed off the dashboard to fly back into the seat and crossed her arms over her chest. She rode with her eyes closed the rest of the way. She repeated the mantra in her head, "he's doing this for me, for us".

They walked to the doors of BuzzWire; it was bizarrely quiet for the day and hour. Mick pulled the door open and listened to the silence. Beth and Mick took guarded steps thru the lobby, where was the guard? The monitors played the current feed to an empty office. Mick led them past Beth's desk, stacks of mail and post it notes stuck on the blank monitor then they rounded the corner to Mo's office. Mick braced the doorway when he saw Maureen's body, played out on the floor behind her desk.

"Stay back, Beth" he barked over his shoulder as she bumped into him. His command made her strain to see over his shoulder, jumping to catch what Mick was viewing.

"Mick, move, let me see, NOOOOOO" she cried as she saw Maureen's body. She spun into Mick as they clasped at each other – her panic set in immediately, the post traumatic stress from witnessing Josh's attack, it was all too much.

_**There's a king on a throne with his eyes torn out**_

_**There's a blind man looking for a shadow of doubt**_

_**There's a rich man sleeping on a golden bed**_

_**There's a skeleton choking on a crust of bread**_

_**King of pain….**_

"Ms Turner, I'm Ben Talbot, from the District Attorney's office" Mick watched the guy, clean white shirt, dark suit, slender, young, and confident. Mick stayed close to Beth.

Beth shook his hand mutely then she melted back into Mick's arm. Mick waited for Talbot's handshake, it never came.

"Maureen was your editor?" He stood making mental note, surveying Beth's proximity to Mick.

"Yes, I got a call about a special story, I'm not due back until Monday, she wanted to give me the opportunity for my comeback" Beth was rambling; her eyes were filling with unshed tears.

"Did she say what type of story?" Ben nodded, taking all the police activity in as he stood with Mick and Beth.

"She'd never do that, not on the phone. Have you found her computer?" Beth's eyes roamed the office for the laptop.

"No, no laptop, we'll take that into consideration, and you are?" Ben still stood hands in his pants pockets as his gaze turned to Mick.

"Mick St John" Mick kept his arm around Beth and the other in his jean's pocket.

Ben's eyes narrowed and his head tilted, "St John, you work at BuzzWire?" Was he staring at Mick's hold on Beth?

"No, I'm a PI, a friend of Beth's" Mick stood a little taller waiting for his reply.

"PI? Mick St John?" Ben's eyes opened wider to watch Mick watch the officers, "Did you touch anything before we got here, St John?" Ben's voice full of suspicion.

"Of course not, I know better, we know better" Mick's dour expression crested and froze on his face. Ben's all business appearance met Mick's aversion to the new DA.

"Have we met before, St John?" Ben's shoulders pushed back a bit more, arms now crossed, chin up.

"Can't say that we have, Mr. Talbot" Mick now mimicked Ben's posture, stepped closer, spoke softer as he drew his business card from a leather sleeve he had pulled out of his breast pocket.

"I have heard of you, yes" Ben nodded while he pocketed the card; a sour expression fell over him, his head still turning to watch the LAPD scouring the scene.

"So, Ms Turner, the computer, the story….. You think a drunken Lindsey Lohan is worth a life?" Ben's aversion to tabloid journalism was leaking thru his professionalism.

"This wasn't about a drunken star; this was serious enough for someone to stop her. You find the computer, you'll find the killer" Beth taunted him, stepping ahead of Mick, her chin up, fists at her side. Ben nodded at them, stepping back before thanking them and leaving them. Mick held Beth, whispering into his ear she plotted, "we need to get to Mo's, I know she has a hard drive stashed somewhere…."

So it was with very human reflexes they slid out and drove like madmen to Mo's apartment. The garden rock held her key, a holdover from when Beth house sat last year. They walked around, crippled with their humanity, trying to scope the rooms for a flash drive. Mick paused at several apparent clues, then out of habit he'd tilt his head and inhale – nothing, there'd be nothing there…..damned human senses. He frowned at his reflection in the multiple mirrors decorating the home and anticipation for success gave way to disappointment. An excited Beth whirled around the corner, flash drive in hand, "Found it!"

Miles driven, clues hunted, their Valentine's Day was spent their hearts embroiled in solving Mo's murder. Once their final laundry list of clues were before them, the stared at it, lost in the reality of Mo's death. By Midnight the clues distilled, it all came down to a model's search for perfection, a trip to a plastic surgeon, a heart attack and a vampire being present at Maureen's murder. How did all this fit together? They had a date tomorrow, Friday morning to meet Talbot at Dr Ander's office.

"It could have been you" Mick proffered quietly that the model on the slab could have been Beth, he thought of her rare blood type.

"It would never be me" Beth retorted, her confidence up to the brim, no plastic surgery for her….even in LA.

"Beth, it's just a matter of time before the DuValls get a wild hair for your blood type" Mick's lost the battle to stay off the vampire subject.

"Well, that thought hadn't crossed my mind, I was thinking about being never being Dr. Ander's patient, after this" Beth tapped at her shoulder, "I am staying away from needles and surgeons" Beth sat back, ginger ale in hand her eyes went across the ceiling as she digested his fear. Since Mick's first meal as a human Beth hadn't given the DuValls a second thought. The realization changed the shape of her world, Vampires were still real.

_**There's a red fox torn by a huntsman's pack, **_

_**there's a black-winged gull with a broken back**_

_**there's a little black spot on the sun today, it's the same old thing as yesterday**_

Bob Turner, late fifties sat back in the recliner chair, he had screwed his way thru life, got caught a couple of times, never got strangled with child support. The first wife remarried and the new guy honored up and adopted the boy. The second time it bothered him a bit, not enough to pay the support, just enough to get a vasectomy and quit playing for keeps. The smoke from the counterfeit Cuban cigar curled around his head as he watched the evening news, his phone rang a local number he didn't know.

"Yello?" his voice was lyrical, pleasant, still a charmer.

"Mr. Turner, Bob Turner?" Josh's voice official voice softened to take the tone of an interviewer, not an interrogator.

"Yeah, please tell me you're from Publisher's Clearing House" Bob drew on the cigar, hoping it wasn't a collection agency.

"Well, not really, I'm writing a book, the name's Josh Lindsey. Would you have a minute to talk about your daughter's kidnapping?"

"Now that's some ancient history, who's interested in a book about that?" almost a verbal sneer came back in Bob's voice.

"It's reality, Bob, people love a good true story, and so did you have a minute?" Josh nailed the guy with the mention of true stories; evidently Bob figured he'd end up with a percentage of a sale.

"Sure, what did you want to know?" Bob would be an open book for a fist full of green.

Josh's voice was dry, his words measured, "The night Beth was taken, did you take her?"

_**I have stood here before inside the pouring rain**_

_**With the world turning circles running 'round my brain**_

_**I guess I'm always hoping that you'll end this reign**_

_**But it's my destiny to be the king of pain**_

_**King of pain, I'll always be king of pain, I'll always be king of pain.**_

* * *

The next chapter features lyrics from Annie Lennox's 'Dark Road'

**Walk, Run, Stumble #3 Dark Road**

* * *

Thursday, February 14, 2008 Late Afternoon

"No, it wasn't me, Josie didn't even call me that night, she'd already washed her hands of me" Bob mused, drawing on the stogie. He hadn't had a conversation of any real sort in decades; it was usually bar talk this time of night.

Josh's mind reeled that a couple could, would make a child and disconnect. Hadn't that been cruel to Beth?

"So Beth was kidnapped and returned within hours and you're saying the subject never came up with your ex?" Josh was incredulous.

"Can't say that we did, I stopped in a few days later, dropped off a Christmas gift and she was rantin' that she needed a safer place to live, when I pressed her for why she belched the whole story out" Bob stopped to take a swig of a drink, Josh hung on for more, "What's your name again?" Bob asked, as if lost in thought.

"Lindsey" Josh quietly repeated.

"Mr. Lindsey, ever had a kid with a woman you didn't want to be with? Sorry to pry, it's just you can't understand what it's like to be stuck making payments on something you have no desire to have. Kind of like…"

Josh cut him off before he compared Beth to a car or a house or a boat…."So when did the subject come up?"

"That day, she mentioned she paid some PI $150.00 to find Beth. He found Beth in 5 or 6 hours, cops couldn't have done it….I asked her how she paid him, she said it was from her cookie jar. Hell, that guy found Beth in such a short time I bet Josie he was in on it, you know, in cahoots for the cash. $150.00 was a lot of money in 1985."

"Did Mrs. Turner say how she found the PI?" Josh was writing furiously as he sat back, Bluetooth in his ear.

_**It's a dark road and a dark way that leads to my house**_  
_**And the word says you're never gonna find me there, oh no**_  
_**I've got an open door, It didn't get there by itself, It didn't get there by itself**_

Thursday, February 14, 2008 late evening

"I love you, Beth" Mick spoke reverently, he had enough of the day and he wanted the warmth of her fully against him he wanted to thrill her…. He saw a flicker in the light of her eyes, "It's been a rough day we can celebrate another day". He was leaving this night in Beth's hands.

"Mick, let's get back to my place, I do want to give you your gift….OK?" human legs travelled rapidly over the ground, tires rolled and they were riding in the dark in their own world. The sound of the pounding surf after a day of rain was soothing, Mick stood as the French doors remembering his nights leaping up to her while he repulsed the feelings to ravish a woman who wasn't his. What a release to be here, knowing she was at least for now safe with his nature.

"Now you get to open your gift" Beth stood at her bedroom's French doors, hands on the sides of the doorframes as she held the doors partially closed. Her hair was tied up in black satin ribbons, delicate curls falling around her ears. Mick caught the twinkle of his charm bracelet on her wrist. Black charmeuse hung from her shoulders, in a 40's glamour girl gown she was everything he lusted for… the glow of the room behind her elicited an inviting silhouette.

"You don't have to ask twice, Beth" Mick moved toward her dashing off his clothing as he approached her, pressed against her his chest felt the slippery satin as if moved between their flesh. As his lips seared to hers his tongue sought the seam of her lips he felt her hands work at his belt buckle, he couldn't protest, he twitched at the prospect of being out of his clothes and within her.

The only music was the cadence of their breathing, in sync they rolled on the fresh finely woven sheets. Yes, it was erasing the stain of the day, yes it was soothing their broken hearts yes they were igniting each other's curiosity…

Poised over his goddess Mick held her hand in his, delicately kissing each fingertip, then taking that fingertip between his lips he gave each one a gentle suckle. Beth pressed a finger upward, turned her finger to run it along the ridge of his teeth, she pressed where his fang would have descended and sighed more deeply than their emotions warranted.

"What?" Mick froze and his hand held fast around her wrist as he drew his mouth off of her finger. A piece of his humanity died as he realized she missed the animal he was.

"So, no role-play? Won't you play my vampire?" even Beth's gentle plea and teasing stung him.

Mick knew about role-play he felt it filled in when a couple lacked something in their relationship…. ….. He saw the games Josef played; being with Beth didn't want to play games. Yet wanting Beth, he'd do anything; he'd give her whatever she needed to want him.

Mick dipped his head, and closed his eyes, he dragged her finger over the edge of his canine and exerted gentle pressure, even the dull tooth brought a weak smile to her face, and she clutched her own nipple as she arched her back to press toward him. He snarled as she moaned his name and she clutched his hips with her knees.

"It's time, you know, let me kiss you," her eyes glanced down between them, at his heavy cock resting on her belly.

"Time? Are we on a clock? I thought we had all night….." or so he had hoped, this was more than a fixation on his nature, this seemed to have been the fog she had moved thru since coming home from the hospital. This was depression and medical side effects and he hurt for Beth although he felt she hurt enough for both of them.

Beth's efforts to be drawn in, to be fully physically invested seemed to be strained; he had noticed so many changes since the implant. Between his not being the animal he once was and Beth being affected by the medication and the surgery he felt this becoming a grind, and not in a good way.

Mick rolled over on his back and she mechanically swung herself over him, this time looking like a sad maiden, not the sultry glamour girl who invited him into her boudoir. She hand grasped him gently; the other combed his chest, her lips travelled down his chest as he watched her eyes blinking back tears…..

Would he be crueler to let her continue than to stop her? Where was this going? How long were they going to spend their nights in this exasperating haze? Their passion had been bridled by pharmacology and unrealistic expectations.

"Beth, babe, come here" He held his arms out and she fell into them, her tears running onto his chest. He'd call Dr. Andrews tomorrow, right after they left the meeting with Talbot at Dr. Ander's.

_**There's a feeling, But you're not feeling' it at all**__  
__**There's a meaning but you're not listening any more**__  
__**I look at that open road I'm gonna walk there by myself**_

Friday, February 15th, 2008 Dawn

Rise and shine, he shook his head at the dawn and scratched in all the usual places. Nothing like complications at work, he thought as he rose, picked out the conservative dress shirt and traditional tie and paired it with the dark grey suit. Shaving, he spent a long time staring into his reflection, his parents were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary and he had to remember to pick up the flowers tomorrow for their Saturday evening dinner party.

This job kept him so busy…he missed spending time with his Mom. Dad was still caught up in his medical practice and it fell into his lap to visit with his Mom, she had broken her leg in a skiing accident at Christmas and was aggravated by the inconvenience of the cast and the directions to "Sit, Stay". Tonight he'd have some quality time with Mom while Rodger pressed the flesh at the party. Hell; he didn't have a girl friend since he moved back west. His new girlfriend was his job….and she was getting to be a btich.

Friday, February 15th, 2008 11:00am

"The Dr. will see you", the super fantastic plastic receptionist stood, Vanna like, gesturing toward Dr Ander's office door. Ben automatically led Mick and Beth into the tragically fashionable office. Sculptures of impossible bodies posed armless and legless in the corners, glass cubed walls veiled the complete view of next room, was it an exam area Mick thought? The three of the sat before the officious looking surgeon, his hands formed into tented fingers, as if he wanted them to adore his gifted digits.

Their conversation skated over why the model visited, Dr. Anders sounded off about his ease in removing the 500cc of fat and then when Ben wasn't getting the cooperation he expected as an officer of the court, he stood to leave. Mick and Beth stepped back toward the door, certainly Logan could hack into Dr Ander's systems, and it didn't have to be a verbal shove-fest.

"And I know a judge with a bad breast job, trust me Dr Anders, this information needs to be forthcoming" Ben stood, hands on hips, nodding as if to reinforce his authority. Before Mick could process the movement, Anders was around the desk, it was inhuman….. …. It was vamp like….. None of them heard the sound Anders made as he rounded the glass desk and held Ben up by the shirt, it was effortless… it was inhuman…..and by the time Mick processed what was happening Ben was airborne until he hit the wall across the next room. "BETH, get out of here" Mick bellowed, leaping to throw himself at Anders, a very human effort in vain.

Anders was out of Mick's way with Beth in his arms, he saw Anders lips move – didn't hear a word….. This was worse than he expected, then Anders' eyes flashed ice blue, chapped grey lips revealed fully realized fangs, Mick's worse fears confirmed, what a hell of a time to be human.

Mick's body separated from his "visions" he saw it all in slow motion, flung into the air he fell backwards on the glass desk, landing flat out among the shattered glass on the ground. Mick was stunned, he lay there – could he move? He thought he heard Anders speak, "AO-, tasty," with that Mick poured all his strength into rolling over and crouching to spring after Anders. Mick's head spun as he crawled toward the blurry sight of Anders carrying Beth over to Ben's unresponsive body.

Crap, Mick thought, was Talbot dead? Anders threw Beth toward Ben then he yanked Ben to sit up, he forced an unresponsive Ben to sit back to back with Beth. Mick covered ground inch by inch, thru the haze he watched Anders tie their hands together and then Anders trussed them together from the waist to their shoulders. Mick felt the glass shard in his thigh; he regarded the trail of blood on the formerly pristine marble floor as he dragged himself progressively slower toward Ben and Beth. Anders's hands travelled in a blur as he wrapped yards of gauze around Ben's head, plunging him into darkness.

Beth was totally aware of her fate, her busted lip was bleeding and she was in the hands of a violent vampire. Of all times, Mick was desperately human and critically wounded from the sight of his weak crawl across the floor. When Anders drew close to her, she felt the icy draft of his forced breath, she saw him inhale her scent and frozen in his clutches her spirit wilted, she fainted away. God help us, were her last thoughts.

_**And if you catch me I might try to run away**__  
__**You know I can't be here too long and if you let me**__  
__**I might try to make you stay**_

_**Seems you never realize a good thing till it's gone..**_

Defeated, broken, Mick woke folded into a protective crouch; he woke to silence, amid the carnage of Anders' office. He surveyed the tangle of broken glass, scattered books and tossed artwork, where did Anders take Ben and Beth? Did he feel a broken rib? Mick saw the shard of glass still embedded in his thigh, he knew better than to pull it out. The dull tympani in his head echoed his heartbeat as he drew himself to his feet and drove to the morgue, if he didn't occupy a slab himself, perhaps G could stitch him up.

"Hey, Mick, the object of becoming human wasn't to die immediately, was it?" G assembled the surgical instruments and cut Mick's jeans away from the 3" wound, "This is going to hurt like hell, but man, I don't have anesthetics"

Mick grit his teeth, looking away with a humiliated grunt as G began the task of sewing closed the gash. Minutes stretched as the needle entered and exited his flesh, he inhaled and exhaled trying to pass the rolling sensations of pain. Then he felt G's hand on his shoulder, "Hey, man, you're creeping me out, I've never seen you in pain"

"Pain isn't the beginning of it, that butcher has Beth tied to Ben. What am I going to do, G?" Mick's loss was written over his face, it hung like a heavy cloak on his shoulders, "I've got to get home, get my gear, get back and get her out of there" G heard the regret in Mick's voice.

Guillermo shrugged, it wasn't his fight and Mick wasn't up to the task….. G only had one option.

**Maybe I'm still searching but I don't know what it means**  
**All the fires of destruction are still burning' in my dreams**  
**There's no water that can wash away this longing' to come clean hey yea. . . . . . yea...**

Mick's mind whirled at the prospects he faced…. He had to find Beth and Ben then he had to beat Anders at his game. Mick had to go "Van Helsing" on Anders and god knows how many other vamps. Poised at the bookcase he withdrew the case of weapons, the revolver with the silver bullets was cleaned and loaded. The machete he had used to disconnect Shepherd's head from his shoulders had been put away wiped and sharpened. Silver tipped stakes, check, mini cross bow with silver tipped arrows, check. Then the cool flash of vampire breath washed over Mick's shoulder…..

"Well, what are you planning, my silly little human?" Josef taunted, arms crossed over his chest, one hand up, finger poised as his temple. He shook his head, tutting his tongue against his teeth.

"Anders has Beth, has Ben….I …. need …. to ….. get ….. her ….. back" Mick's voice was anxious, edgy; he wanted to veil his intentions from Josef. Mick's eyes closed to shove his guest away, it didn't work, he felt himself pummeled against the kitchen island – how rapid had Josef thrown him? He was swept back to the melee at the doctor's office. What the hell was he going to do?

Bent back over the island, Josef's face glared, fully vamped inches from his, Mick begged, "Help me get her back"

Josef stepped back, wiping his hands as if to discharge Mick as he asked "What about Talbot?"

Josef's sneer answered Mick's query, "He's collateral, Beth's as good as dead too, you just don't get it, Mick" Mick shoved his anger into Josef's chest; he hit a monolith, unmovable. Josef grabbed Mick's forearms, "YOU are an idiot" Josef barked, his icy breath frosting Mick's face. Mick's eyes went wet; tears held back in optimism were ready to be shed in hope lost. Then Josef grabbed his shirt with both hands, holding him up off his toes.

"If I went in there fangs blazing I'd be fighting alone, you'd be about as useful as a bag of squirrels, we'd both be terminated with extreme prejudice and there'd be no one left to call The Cleaners" Mick had never elicited this much emotion from Josef. Mick's head hung to his chest…..Josef put him back to the floor, stepped back again to view this victim of his desires.

"Brother, I know I stepped into all this" Mick held out his hands at his mortal body, "without your counsel, and I never anticipated this….."Josef watched the dawning realization wash over Mick. Words couldn't carry Josef's message, his right hand went out and Mick clasped it with both hands, praying…."I need to not be human, I need to get my Beth back"

"What exactly are you asking for, Mick? Do you think you can walk back and forth between the realms?" Josef pulled his hand back toward him, drawing Mick within inches of his face. Nose to nose they stared for an indeterminable time. Josef made him beg. Josef had to hear Mick's realization fully verbalized

"I need you to turn me back" There, Mick said it… Josef shook his head, sure he expected it, he knew what ever Beth needed Mick would brook hell to gain it.

"Are you sure this IS what you want?" Josef's voice lowered to a whisper as he ran a nervous hand to his own throat, and ran a finger inside his dress shirt collar. The twitch of Josef's nose, his nervous tongue dashed the seam of his lips as he waited for Mick's answer.

"Brother, do it", Mick yanked at the neck of his Henley, turning his head he exposed himself, stood ready, legs spread at shoulder's width waiting for Josef's lethal strike. Mick's throat caught Josef's sharp impact; his body resonated with Josef's low rumble. Mick felt the ebb of his body's warmth as his sex hardened within his jeans and swelled against Josef's suited thigh….the overall loss of his blood sent him to float in an unfamiliar atmosphere….this wasn't like Coraline's honeymoon bite. Mick tasted four centuries of élan, intensity and domination distilled into Josef's kiss of death and resurrection. Mick immediately recognized what Beth had missed in their coupling…..

Josef's lips seared his throat, he felt his blood boil under Josef's embrace…Josef's body insinuated to Mick's, a virile grip bolstered Mick's crumbling human shell. The sharp bite brought Mick to tremble and surrender to Josef's dominance. Within Josef's clutches Mick's soul released any fear of his undead nature….

Josef tasted the pain of Mick's human defeat, the desolation Mick felt while he planned his revenge. Josef consumed Mick's past lamentations of being a vampire and tasted Mick's desire to vanquish Anders and bring Beth home alive.

Jose imbued into Mick his pride of his nature, a new self…..Mick left his humanity in a roaring orgasm and when the glimmer of Mick's heart flickered Josef lay him back over the dinner table then ripped open his sleeve, "Ok, boyo, here's where you have to want this….."

Josef viciously bit his wrist, frustrated by having to take his friend's mortality, wondering if they'd be able to see eye to eye ever again. He held his wrist over Mick as his ancient blood flowed, dark and rich it dripped onto Mick's gaping lips. The memories of Sarah's turning flashed thru Josef's mind, his undead heart sank with Mick's stillness. One, one hundred, two, one hundred, three, one hundred….

_**I can't find the joy within my soul, It's just sadness taking hold**__  
__**I wanna come in from the cold and make myself renewed again**__  
__**It takes strength to live this way, the same old madness every day**__  
__**I wanna kick these blues away…..I wanna learn to live again...**_

As Josef kept his blood flowing, it did seem to sluice down between Mick's parted lips, bending close to his unresponsive fledgling, Josef whispered, "Rise and shine, brother, your destiny awaits". Mick's lids flickered and then fluttered open. His spent human tears crept down the sides of his face as Mick felt his skin chill and scars from his earlier battle healed. All his systems slowed to near stillness; his heart shuddered as he rose slowly, tucked his chin and willed his nature to change. Mick St John, PI and Vampire was back.

_**It's a dark road and a dark way that leads to my house**__  
__**and the word says you're never gonna find me there oh no**__  
__**I've got an open door, it didn't get there by itself, it didn't get there by itself**_

"Where are we?" Ben's voice rasped as he came back to reality, wherever that was.

"We're in Ander's back office" Beth was terse, agitated by being awake all this time. She knew their dire situation, Ben had no clue, he had drifted in and out of lucidity as he slumped against her. Beth felt moisture on their hands, was it blood, was it hers or was Ben hurt?

"Where's Mick?" Ben questioned, flailing his foot to reach for Mick

"He'll come back for us…..seriously" Beth assured Ben, "We need to be very quiet, don't talk, keep breathing steady, Ben, and stay calm"

Ben's legs kept moving, reaching for Mick, was he tied alone? "Beth, he could be dead, I don't hear him"

"No, he can't be, he isn't dead", She admonished Ben as she tilted her head to scanned the empty room from under the blindfold. Then she heard the footfalls, several of them, "Quiet" she whispered.

The two prisoners heard the doors fly open; three sets of men's shoes walked the perimeter. The visitors moved glass objects and laughed at secrets spoken subtonally, Beth knew vamps could speak under the range of human hearing…. That added to her agitation. It was as if foreigners were speaking about them in another language….

Poised outside Ander's office Josef took a short sniff of the vicinity, "It is amazing how much you can accomplish when it doesn't matter who gets hurt." Josef chided as he threw open the door, allowing Mick to enter first. They scented the interior and drew down on their prey, moving catlike down a hall and thru a door they spied Beth and Ben blindfolded and tied together.

The posturing began between Mick and Josef and Ander's two acolytes. Riding the adrenaline high, Josef pronounced in human tones, "Oh, this is so on". Then shrouded by sub tones they began their assault….. Freakishly animalistic shrieks rang back and forth….taunting and threatening.

Josef's age ruled as he moved with the grace of a dancer and the speed of a ninja. 400 years of classical fight training came back to him as he engaged this brash neophyte. He watched as Ben and Beth shuddered at the sound of breaking furniture as they tried to anticipate flying debris.

Mick's re-fledgling senses caused him to pace around his target, sensing the fairly new vampire's high from drinking several tubes of rare blood. Mick charged the boy, perhaps in his 20's and a fledgling to boot…. They wrestled; tossing each other in a test of Mick's regaining his vampire instincts. All of Mick's fury for rescuing Beth destroyed the young vamp. When the sub tone shrieks and growls had tuned down, Pierce Anders, MD made his entrance. He stood, his baby ice blues measuring out a scowl, displaying his curiosity about Mick, wasn't he human just hours ago? Pierce anticipated a fledgling's lack of control, an easy victory.

Mick stood before him, rolled his shoulders and nodded, sub toned he offered, "You know, Anders? Most fights are lost, not won….and I'm here to tell you….this is the last one you are going to lose"

Mick's jaw was resolute, his head high. It wasn't bravado, or bluster….it was Mick's confidence, fully returned to him along with his vampire nature. He stood, flexing all his fingers, feeling his joints crack as he prepared for their fray. Anders stepped through the broken furniture and shattered ampoules of blood. Anders regarded his destroyed office and displayed a confident façade and then he bolted for Mick letting Mick use the momentum to his advantage.

The upper hand changed back and forth as Anders executed a few more Asian style assaults, then with gathered focus Mick got behind Anders and twisted his neck, dropped him to the floor and plunged the silver tipped stake into Anders' black heart. The sense of stillness was unsettling. No sub toned shrieks, no grunts of physical force.

Mick and Josef untied Ben and Beth, at Mick's sub toned direction Josef kept Ben blindfolded as he drew him up to his feet. Ben staggered, fearing retribution or torture after the hellish fight he imagined from the sounds.

Talbot barked at the hands on him, "Who are… … you,"

"Hold it Talbot, we just saved your life, take it easy and hold on, we're getting you out" Josef shook his head at the insistent human, what a fool Josef mouthed sub toned to Mick as they evacuated the building….. and a crew of Cleaners nodded for approval for entry. Ben felt the rush of several bodies move past him, heard the creak of leather, the click of heeled boots and once he sat in the sedan he went catatonic….

"Beth" Mick slid the gauze off Beth, her bright blue eyes sparkled at seeing Mick, her answer was, "Mick"

"You're safe, now, Babe…" Mick's lips crested her forehead as he held her close. She squinted in the light and stared at his face.

"Mick, what happened to your face?" Beth sought his calm hazel eyes and found his ice blue eyes morphing back, "Oh, baby, you…you did this for me?" Beth understood the currency for her rescue was his humanity.

"I did this for us, Beth, I did it for us" and he effortlessly whisked her up in his arms to carry her out of the building.

_**It takes strength to live this way**__  
__**The same old madness every day**__  
__**I wanna kick these blues away**__  
__**I wanna learn to live again...**_

Friday, February 15th, 2008 late afternoon

"Hello, Mr. Lindsey, this is Pam", Josh shook himself fully awake and he grabbed a pen and pad, hopeful she had the name he was seeking.

"Yes, Pam, how did we do?" Josh held his breath, hoping this would be local info.

"I think we did pretty well, he is local, here's what I got…..ready, Josh?"

"AS I'LL EVER BE" Josh was anxious to jot it all down.

"He went to law school at Florida International University, graduated in May of 2001, second in his class. He's single, his Mom and step Dad live in LA, Step Dad is a Psychiatrist, and his full name is Benjamin Garland Talbot"

To Be Continued


	2. Chapter 2

The next chapter contains lyrics from Annie Lennox's Primitive

**Walk, Run, Stumble #4 Primitive**

* * *

"You know, word gets out that boy billionaire Josef Kostan is out busting chops, the world is going to think I'm connected or something" Josef taunted Mick as the two of them walked away from a shivering Ben Talbot. Josef's shoulders rolled and flexed, filling his jacket back out at the right "fit", he brushed off the bits of broken glass and dust, a slight sneer at the thought of having rolled around with a ruffian..

Then Josef remembered the age old rush of physical victory…he hadn't had that in over a century.

"What, you'll have to sell Kostan Industries and go into, what "waste management"? Mick asked sarcastically as he shook out his duster and checked for obvious holes in his clothes, the "dead" giveaway of something "hinky".

"Yeah, right…..you need to understand my name and "waste" would never be used in the same sentence….You know me, Mr. Waste Not Want Not" Josef cricked his neck and readjusted his cuffs at his jacket sleeves. Josef sought his reflection to check his "smile" as he and Mick waited for The Cleaner van to show.

Ben Talbot sat, inside a white Kostan Industries van, secluded from the view of the undead attendants moving as a single choreographed unit. He rocked back and forth, almost catatonic, all he could remember was the melee, the furniture and the bumping and landing of bodies.

No cries, no screams. He wondered what he had just lived thru, was it a hallucination? Ben felt the hand of an angel, the light hand of a statuesque blond haired EMT touched his shoulder, he moved as she directed him, staring into her flashlight, nodding and answering her questions. What was she asking? The line of questioning left him oddly calm, her voice was tender and smooth, almost other worldly. Ben wondered what she was doing Saturday night; he still needed a date for his parent's anniversary party. Yeah, Ben mused, I could go for a woman like this…..

In view of Mick and Josef Beth sat sipping from a bottle of water, she was watching them take verbal shots at each other; she thought they looked like two teenagers after the Friday night football game, a pair of athletes doing some post-game quarterbacking. Mick had sacrificed his mortality for her… …. She swallowed slowly as she realized she had gained her vampire back and she took a deep breath…. … she was torn between lamenting their "loss" and celebrating their survival.

As she stared into the night air, watching the bodies moving all around her, the cell phone in her pocket throbbed. She let it go to voicemail, she was exhausted.

_**Sweetheart, the sun has set all red and primitive above our heads**_

_**Blood stained on an ageless sky wipe your tears and let the salt stains dry**_

_**Let them all run dry all run dry...**_

"You ready to go home?" Mick's arms wrapped around Beth, he had walked up behind her without her noticing. She quivered at the sound of his voice and turned to look into his eyes.

"Home? Sure, which one?" Her blue eyes were dreamy; her smile was lazy and relaxed. Beth wondered what was in the water, all of a sudden she was just "loosed" all the nerves had been snapped, must be with all the tension gone, she had nothing left to hold her together….

"Well, there's a certain reality now that sort of makes it crucial for me to go to the loft…..I am sorry, Beth…I knew it would be back, I just didn't expect it to be back so soon" Mick spoke about it as if it were a cancer in their relationship, "I need to feed, hit the freezer" his face was glum, Mick was weary.

Josh had called Beth, not to assault her with the news, just to initiate some sort of dialogue. They hadn't talked in ages. She was with Mick now, and he was alone. Josh's life had been consumed with work; his friends had been the guys in the office, the same guys who were in his fantasy football league. It was one the same guys that sold out Leni, and that series of events opened Josh's eyes to the strange talents of Mick St John. Josh remembered the way Mick strolled on the crime scene and seemed to divine all of the clues. Yes, it was odd how rapid he made it down the fire escape.

So Josh sat there with his crisis of loneliness…. It was driving him to dig into things that were more painful the more he dug. Did he need to know any more or had he uncovered truths that begged to be exposed. Curiosity killed the cat; satisfaction brought the inquisitive feline back so the adage spoke.

Would the truths allow Josh to rest? Josh hung up the phone; Beth was probably enjoying her last week before she had to go back to work….. Josh dismissed the tough of talking to her, breaking off the call before he would record a voice-mail message.

_**Sweetheart, take me to bed that's where all our prayers are said**_

_**Whispered silent in the night that's how all our dreams take flight**_

_**Let them all go by, all go by...**_

Mick's draw to the little hidden fridge was immediate, Beth stood back and dropped her purse as she watched him go thru the motions she had seen so often before. What expectations had she held when he took the cure? Had she hoped for a full year of normalcy? Had she envisioned Mick changing his career, moving to the beachfront apartment with her?

They hadn't stepped into his choice with a lot of planning; they had been blinded by the chance to be human together for a distinct period of time. They hadn't discussed what couples usually plan…would there be a child? Would they move? What would he really do for a living?

She knew as a human he'd be guarded, he'd spend every day with the clock ticking inside his head, "364, 363, 362 days to go before I _"combust."_ So now it was with a certain peace that she watched him draw out the syringe and the blood, he needed a rapid infusion. She gave him privacy and left him to draw a warm tub for herself; she'd leave enough room in the tub in case he'd want to join her. Although she hoped he'd join her to float their cares away, she knew he'd be down there, beating himself up at the prospect of being a vampire_…. In love with a human_.

_**For time will catch us in both hands to blow away like grains of sand**_

_**Ashes to ashes rust to dust this is what becomes of us**_

_**Sweetheart, send me to sleep pray to God our hopes to keep**_

_**Take our fears and make us strong lead us to where we belong**_

_**And let it all go by, all go by...**_

Mick quenched his thirst, mindful that Beth was giving him his space….. He could feel the loss in her emotions. It was back to that, being the primitive animal that scented his prey, knew every emotion in the area. Mick cleaned his glass and bounded up to the roof. It has been the sight of their "picnics", the place where they'd watch each other for clues as how things really were between them. It was where she let him know he was her "knight in shining armor" after he killed Shepherd. Of course that was she told him with her eyes tonight, as he peeled back the gauze and she saw the fading silver in his eyes, the ragged lips.

Beth floated, the water was warm, the bath oil was relaxing, did she even want to go back to work? It would all be different with Maureen dead; she'd never get the sight of her body on the floor. Was it the right time to change jobs? What would she do for a living? Her hand ran over her incision, she was thrilled that the entire adventure hadn't sent her into a shocking episode….did she want to spend the rest of her life waiting for the "shock" to throw her back into a normal heart rhythm? Tonight was NOT the night to get into a conversation with Mick about an undead life.

Ben was treated at the scene of the crime and driven to his parent's home. Natalie, the blond EMT walked him to the front door and shook his hand before he disappeared into the large glass and stucco home on the side of a hill. His Mother fawned and made over him, "How could they NOT take you to a hospital, Ben?" She fussed as she drew a tea kettle and assembled a pair of mugs and tea.

"Really, I'm ok, the EMT's checked me out, I just wanted to get home and they wanted me to be with people. You know the whole concussion thing….." he waved her off and padded off to the bedroom she kept at the back of the house for his visits. He changed into sweats and a t-shirt and came back to the breakfast bar to lean for a conversation, or maybe not. She was eyeing his suspiciously as she poured the tea kettle's boiling contents into the mugs.

"How did you do that?" She clamped her fingers on his ear and folded it forward, spying small two puncture marks high on his neck.

Ben flung her hand off his ear, "Mom, what are you talking about?" he walked to the powder room mirror and tried to see what she was talking about. Ben had to pull a hand mirror out to see it; he barely felt the scabs with his fingertip.

"I was thrown across the room; there was a lot of broken glass, probably just glass shrapnel, nothing to worry about" he frowned at his Mother taking such a bodily inventory of him….how smart was coming over her he thought as he tried to smooth his short hair over the marks.

"Well, dear….you never know, it could be vampires" and his Mother giggled girlishly as she left the hallway and returned to her steaming mug of tea.

"There's no such thing as Vampire, _MOTHER_!" Ben chided as he turned off the bathroom light.

* * *

The next chapter includes lyrics of Michael Franks, 'The Camera Never Lies'

**Walk, Run, Stumble #5 The Camera Never Lies**

* * *

Sunday, February 17, 2008

"Why is this so weird?" Beth's smile reflected off Mick's and he grinned at her question. Moments earlier He had lept out of his freezer at dusk and literally flown to crawl into her bed, yet she hadn't been in bed.

Beth was in a wandering mood, she had spent the afternoon sorting the photos on her photobucket account, and she had reread a few of the short stories in the book on the table next to the chair at Mick's book shelf. She had cleaned out the food in Mick's cabinets, looking pensive at the old fashioned food Mick had enjoyed the short time he was human. Who ate hominy anymore, Beth thought as she bagged up the 3 cans of white hominy. Then he was right behind her and she saw his smile in the mirrored wall in the kitchen.

"It's weird because we were like this, then we weren't and now we are….." Mick had already compartmentalized the feelings. He caught her to the counter, placing both palms on the counter and pressing his hips into her toosh, he drew in her scent….God, his missed that in those past days, "and anyway I am…I'm so thrilled, to . . . . . .be… .. ..able… .. to enjoy you like this" by now his nose was pressed into her wild tangle of curls clipped to the top of her head.

"I never argue with a man before he'd been fed…..Do you get low blood sugar…or just a low blood level?" She was grinning now, pressing back into Mick's salute. They shared nuzzles and wiggles and wordless expressions of their affections.

"Can I gently persuade you to take more time off?" Mick took her hand and led her back to the sofa.

She cranked a funny smile onto her face, as if she'd never dream of leaving her job and shrugged, "You could almost talk me into anything, depending on the time of day and the mood I'm in" Beth stretched out, throwing her feet over his lap and stretching her arms up in a yawn and a "fake" as if to catch him.

"Given the situation, I was thinking we might want to take a little trip – get away for a month or so maybe longer" The man sure knew how to play to her heart Beth thought, waiting for him to spill the other wild ideas he might have hatched in the freezer.

"Let me put it this way, in any situation I'd run off with you, so tell me how to pack and whether I need my passport and I'll be there" Wait….had she just pretty much thrown going back to Buzzwire out the window? Yeah, pretty much. "So, where would you like to go?"

Mick bit at his bottom lip, made an off-handed gesture after he scratched at his jaw and shrugged, "Given my current situation, some place cool, dark…"

"You want to go to a closet for a month?" Beth made a comical expression as she sat up straight to lean into his space, she brushed her nose on his and he got the joke.

_**Give them their freedom - unless you do, the tide of suffering's sure to rise**_

_**You see it coming - o yes, you do and the camera never lies**_

_**No, the camera never lies**_

Sunday afternoon

This time, he swallowed his courage and spoke, "Beth, this is. . . . Josh. . . . I wonder if we could have coffee, you know, you and Mick and me.." he drew in a breath, shook his head and wish he was questioning perps, it would be easier, "I hope you all had a good Valentine's day and call me about coffee or maybe if the two of you would like to come by the beach for dinner" Josh swallowed hard and clicked off the phone. What was it about a coward dying a thousand deaths?

What would he do with the news about Ben being her half-brother? Why would they care? It was just one of the peripheral nuggets of news produced by his digging in Beth's background…. When he wanted to find Beth's father and get a handle on why a man did what he did, he found out his replacement was kith and kin to ex-girlfriend.

He had the ring, should he call her his ex-fiancé? Naw….he hadn't popped the question. The miasma of the past few weeks clouded his judgment. He knew he was getting "better", he was waking up with a hard on, even though sometimes he was in a sweat, dreaming of Beth sobbing over him as he felt Mick's hands inside him. Josh wished there was a Nicorette gum or something to step down the pangs of loss he felt.

Monday, February 18, 2008

"Well, la de dee, here comes the Princess of the airwaves, the Queen of the dead, Miss Beth Turner" Marissa was poised at Beth's desk, hip cocked at an angle, arms crossed over her breasts, a cynical smile on her face, "Welcome back, Beth, good to have you back" the saccharine flowed freely as Beth teetered on heels, the first time since she had been in the office last year. Beth grinned passively as she pushed past Marissa and logged into her computer, taking careful time to cut thru her hundreds of emails while she reran the events of her early morning.

It had been a stretch to dress this morning, "Mick….. if I quit by noon, can we be gone by sundown?" She pulled her hair up into a twist and stuck a clip in it. She started with her makeup application and realized her entire "experience" had aged her a bit….. There were faint fine lines she hadn't seen before. It wouldn't look good in high def. Beth sighed as she squeezed a bit more "age defying" serum and smoothed it over the telltale signs of her death experience.

"I thought you were going for a leave, not quit" Mick walked from the shower, a damp towel wrapped low on his waist, he actively ran his fingers thru his hair as he crossed the room. He spied her scrutinizing her complexion and kept his mouth shut. He learned from his Dad, any comments on a woman's age need be strongly reconsidered if the man wanted to live happily ever after.

"Whatever it takes….. With Mo gone, who knows who'll be in charge?" Beth pulled back from the mirror then honed close to add eyeliner.

"Would you want the job?" Mick asked, still finger styling his hair with his hairdryer.

"I wouldn't run that snake pit with a whip and a chair" Beth "'O'ed" her mouth to apply lipstick, then she stood back for a last look, "All I can say is…..I'll text message you something as soon as I know what the scoop is, get rested, I am going to need spoiled tonight when I come home, I'll be…" Beth caught herself before she could say "dead on my feet"

The morning advanced on Beth with both barrels. "Beth, hey, call on line 3" Steve shuffled by her desk, dropped off an "everything" bagel with low fat veggie crème cheese, then disappeared into the control room.

"Beth Turner" the news horse was back in the race.

"Ben Talbot here, good morning, Beth" What the hell did he want? She thought, she turned to her laptop and googled "Benjamin Talbot", and then she prepared to listen to him as she brushed up on her partner in being kidnapped.

"Good morning, Ben Talbot" she waited for him to name the reason for the call…. She wasn't prepared for his call in the least.

"I wondered if you'd be too busy to join me for lunch today, there were a few things I wanted to ask you about" he was awfully confident she thought.

"Well, you know this is my first day back and I don't know when I am actually getting lunch, can we do this another day?" she was sorry she actually sounded a little annoyed by his call, but this was too soon to start getting social calls at work.

"Right, you know when things slow down, I just wanted to grab some time, get a cup of coffee, lunch if you have the time." Ben was slowing down the rush, pacing his words, waiting to read her tone of voice in her response.

"How about, you check in with Mick this weekend, OK?" Beth deferred the call to Mick…..

"Yeah, yeah, I'll do that. So, see you on the Web, right?" Ben drew on a breath and nodded as he closed the call.

Beth craned her neck to see Steve around the corner, "STEVE, you know I can't tell you who Lost's "Smoke Monster" is, so why'd you bring me the bagel?"

"Just a welcome back, can't a crony welcome another crony back from the dead?" Steve stood in the door way taking a break from packing up his camera equipment, "I'll be ready to roll in about 50 minutes"

"Where are we rolling?" Beth's expression spoke more than her words; she wasn't ready to hit the pavement. Beth was still figuring out whom to pass her leave request to.

"Big news, my partner in excitement, we're "free-rolling" as the new team calls it" Steve's eyes rolled at the new term he had been given when he clocked in at 7am, "You meet the new boss at 11, the tech crew already got his words of wisdom" Steve wiggled his eyebrows as he waved and left the area, shaking his head.

_**They send the pictures by satellite somehow they travel through the skies**_

_**To all the homes in America and the camera never lies**_

_**No the camera never lies**_

"His….words of wisdom?" Beth shook her head and crooked her finger as Steve turned around. When their eyes connected she waved him back vigorously, "WHO is HE?"

"Dax something or other, where do men get names like that?" Steve stood actively getting a kick out of scooping Beth on the new boss.

"Dax Federer?" Beth grimaced at the name, the King of Crap, the Chancellor of the Cheap Shot, he was the new Editor?

"One and the same my dear, gird your loins for the shock of you professional career. I'll be down in photo when you pull yourself back together from the meeting." And that was all Beth needed to know, she whipped out her phone and texted to Mick:

**_My prof life is over. Have wine ready. I'll be home by 7._**

**_X.O._**

**_Beth_**

Beth's phone was just back in her purse when the sexually ambiguous portly middle aged man sidled up to the front of her desk, "MISS TURNER….it's so nice to make your acquaintance, Marissa told me you were here and I am so very sorry I didn't make it over here earlier….." His lips drew up as if he smelled his own upper lip; his hands were dug deep into his back pockets, arching his man boobs closer to Beth's sightline than she cared.

Beth immediately stood, just to get the sight of his nipples out of her direct vision, "Mr. Federer, always a pleasure," to run screaming from my desk… Beth thought as she searched for the end of her sentence.

"Before we have the meeting, I'd like a word with you, in my office" Dax tilted his head toward Mo's office and Beth's smile wilted. She nodded and followed him back to the place where she found Mo with a bullet between her eyes. What bargain did she have to make with the Gods to get Dax and Mo to trade places?

_**Truth you can't disguise just open up your eyes**_

_**'Cause the camera never lies**_

"Considering the strength of your catalog, I'd like to see you step up and really grab the eyes and ears of LA. You've got the moxie to grab the public and with the transition I need a leader" Dax leaned back and focused on the ceiling, was he watching the swinging piece of dust from the air handler Beth wagered?

"I can't count on Marissa, her numbers a flagging and I'm looking to trade her off to the San Diego branch just as soon as I have the ink dry my contract" the flaccid façade he projected outside the office had toughened the minute he sat his doughy ass in Mo's chair. It was great to know she was dealing with Dr Heckle and Mr. Jive. Beth's eyes widened, figuring this morning was NOT the time to ask for a month off.

_**We see the faces so innocent and it should come as no surprise**_

_**That the oppression's no accident we know the camera never lies**_

_**No the camera never lies**_

"BTW….that Movie, "A Bit Like Now" you know the sci fi thing about the girl that time travels back and forth from the 1920's to the 2020's?" He was teetering a new pencil in his fingers, watching it balance as he alternated his eyes between the pencil and Beth's breasts.

Beth wanted to know where his conversation was going….. "AND" her question hung in her 1 word.

"There's a post-production party at some mansion tonight, I want you there to catch slurred words and elusive breasts that seem to populate these bacchanals" and he spun around in the chair and finished his sentence with his back to her, "Take Steve, look great and don't come back until you have juicy spill, Turner…."

"Did you get your daily requirement of double speak and BS?" Steve caught a look at Beth in the shotgun seat of the BuzzWire Van. Beth's expression in the visor mirror told Steve all he needed to know. He got a kick out of the curl of her lips, the serious eyes, she was a handful and he had missed her…..

"Are you ready for tonight? Got your batteries charged for a long painful evening?" Beth sipped her tea and pushed back into the seat, adjusted the seatbelt and watched the population on the sidewalk move as they sat in traffic.

"Sure am, this time I'll keep the camera from hitting me in the head and you'll be the asking the hard questions, "Mandy…besides your natural regiment of spa days and sweaty nights in deafening clubs how do you prepare for your role of a time traveler?" Steve's attitude hadn't changed since the first night Beth stood at the fountain.

"Just get me thru this day; I'll worry about the demons in the dark when it's dark" Beth could tell Steve about demons and the dark, she just didn't want to do it today.

Then her phone rang and the caller's ID brought a smile to her entire face, "hey, you!" Steve braced for a lovey dovey conversation like she held months ago.

"You have to work?" Beth pursed her lips and shrugged as the caller spoke,

"When did this come up?" she settled and wiggled in the seat, a smile broadened and Steve could almost sense her softening from her business like demeanor.

"So you have to spend tonight at Josef's because one of his associates needs a bodyguard? This associate wouldn't happen to be Mandy Fellows would it?" Then Beth turned to Steve and shook her head in disbelief as she made a "gun" hand signal and put her finger to her temple.

"Yeah, well, I'll see you there, cause Steve and I are covering the event, we'll be watching for stars falling from their lofty perches" Steve grinned at their dialogue and kept driving, he needed to eat.

They stood at the far end of the portico, it had been decorated in the manner of "the day", "I'm Beth Turner and I am here at the gracious home of film enthusiast, Josef Kostan who is host tonight to a post-production party for the film, "A Bit Like Now", Mr. Kostan, what possessed you to open your home to this celebration tonight?"

"Miss Turner, when you work hard it's only fitting to play hard. I watched them wrap this film and I knew we needed to go back in time to the 20's, the 1920's and blow off some steam, you know roll out the long nose roadsters, smack on some rouge, rolled down your stockings and tipple some cool gin" Josef stood there in that youthful Kostan effervescence….totally belying his 400+ years stalking the earth.

Beth buried a grin each time she had quizzed him off camera, she knew all of this went much deeper than a movie party. It would take a long conversation with Mick to get to the bottom of it.

Right now she found herself at a long drive way as rented vintage cars rolled toward a red carpet, the dichotomy of "future" fashions in silver or gold lame flashed against the vintage beaded dresses. The lanky young men wore short tuxedoes, echoing the Flapper years. As the young actors congregated the Flapper Slicked back hair rivaled the shaved heads of "future", they all raucously slapped each other on their backs as they pawed gin rickies off of trays from servers moving thru the crowd.

Steve filmed Beth as she seemed to know her way around the home; he'd never been to a private home this grand, it was like living at the Biltmore he thought as he panned the camera around the carved soffits, the life size portraits that looked like Sargent's works. As a pair Steve and Beth moved thru the entry hall and back out to the portico then Steve's camera work caught Beth's horrified expression as the riders alit from the 1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom II.

The chauffeur left the open driver's area of the car and held the door open and Mick stepped out, head down, hand obliqueing the flash of dozens of cameras. He was breathtaking in the old style tux, hair slicked back. He stood as the cameras calmed down, he shielded the other rider as she scooted across the car seat, and he didn't want any of those prurient panty shots hitting the airwaves. The buzz of the crowd rose to a fever pitch and held, then when Mick had hoped the photographer's arms had grown tired of balancing the 600mm lenses, Mick extended his hand to the other passenger and she extended a jeweled shoe out of the car.

The applause erupted and she played it for all she could, the foot stretched up a long, lithe leg to a jeweled garter and the lower edge of a fringed shimmy dress. Her gloved hand rested lightly on Mick's as she prepared to make long smooth steps toward the mansion. She held her head high, the ends of her black bobbed hair dancing at her jaw line. Ruby lips puckered on the onyx enamel cigarette holder and she blew a series of smoke rings before the two of them cut thru the crowd.

The chorus of photographers cried "Over here, Mandy" from every direction. Mandy would hear a familiar voice and turn, strike a pose and allow the flash to caress her as the camera recorded this second in time.

Steve recorded it all with a sideways comment to Beth "How'd you like to have that guy's job? Walking her….. nice work if you can get it, huh?" All he got back was an expression akin to the one she gave him the day they did the fashion show, "Isn't he that P.I. friend of yours?" and that was all Steve had add. Beth's hand pulled him to a side entry at the portico.

"Steve, let's get in, get this done and go home….. It is quite a long day and these shoes are a bitch and I don't want to be one too"

Beth stood covertly in the corner of the main ballroom; while outside Steve blanched at the tight formal collar he was forced into wearing while he hefted a smaller camera than usual. He caught the outside action, shooting images of purloined kisses, breasts caught by "mistake" and personalities in a bit more than a tete a tete with someone else's partner.

"How long are YOU working tonight?" Beth leaned an elbow on the bar and sipped a soda and lime; she gave Mick a long look as he kept one eye on the starlet within a foot of him.

"Josef is throwing everyone out at 11, that's then the real party starts; will you ditch Steve and come off the clock with me?" His brow cocked and danced at the prurient invitation, then he caught Beth's hand and kissed at the back of it, "You look keen for being on the clock", he spun her around the see the whole design of the black dress, "Very nice, I'd trade places with Steve in a heartbeat"

"Keen? Aren't you taking this 20's stuff a bit too seriously?" Beth ribbed with a grin.

"This is my era...I remember this music, better than I'd like to admit. Although my mother never had a dress like that" Mick thru a thumb over in the direction of Mandy and her perpetual motioning fringe.

"See you at 10:55, Casanova" Beth withdrew her hand and sauntered off to make up some sort of marketable drivel about Mandy Fellows and the band played on with a rousing set.

The driving, sliding rhythm nearly covered the bloodcurdling shriek of the victim and those who would run to discover the satin clad demi star. The costar of the movie was splayed on the marble bathroom floor, a syringe in her arm, the black red contents spilled with her hitting the marble. Dexter Morgan would have been fascinated.

Rennie Phillips was dead, at the hands of someone who pumped a lethal dose of an injectable drug. While the BuzzWire film rolled, then vampires in attendance went underground. The field day included the parade of authorities, capped off by an appearance by Lt Davis and DA Ben Talbot. When he was told the 3rd pair of eyes on the dead girl was Beth Turner, Ben Talbot was none too thrilled.

* * *

The chapter includes the lyrics of Rod Stewarts' 'Every Picture Tells a Story'

**Walk, Run, Stumble #6 Every Picture Tells a Story, Don't It?**

* * *

Tuesday, After Midnight, February 19th, 2008

"Where's Kostan?" Carl barked to the white coated House man.

"Mr. Kostan is unavailable, he'll be available shortly" The houseman didn't emote much, that's why he had his job.

"OK, where's St John? He's Kostan's go-to boy whenever there's a cluster-fuck" Carl paced the hall outside the bathroom, hands on hips, biting at his bottom lip, "DON'T let Turner out of your sight" Carl threw an accusing index finger to a patrol cop assembling witnesses. Beth shrugged and stepped out of her heels to let her bare feet chill on the marble.

"Can we hurry this up, Carl? This is my first day back to work after my surgery, I am a little worn out" Beth made a face, her puppy dog face, it didn't work.

"The wheels of justice move one speed, Beth, hang in there, Hey, Officer; get this lady a chair, OK?" Carl gave her a wink as the patrol cop dragged a Louis XIV chair over the checkerboard black and white marble floor for Beth. She wagged her eyebrows and sat down to wait for her turn at his inquisition.

Ben rounded the corner and nearly tripped over her, "Ms Turner, first day back to work and you show up here, just my luck we didn't end up tied to each other" There was nothing more to say at his crack, the patrol cop just rubbed his hand over his jaw, covering the snide smile on his face.

"Right, Talbot, how about you interview me and let me head home, I have new Pj's I want to break in." Steve just stared at the two of them, how they eyed each other warily. Steve had no idea where they would have ever been "tied to each other".

"You promise me to come by my office tomorrow before2 and I'll let you leave now" Ben pointed to the door, Beth rose to leave and Steve followed her. Ben held up a cautioning hand, "Ok, Camera Guy, have a seat you get a chance to spill your guts, what's on your camera there?"

_**Spent some time feelin' inferior standing in front of my mirror**_

_**Combed my hair in a thousand ways but I came out looking just the same**_

_**Daddy said, "Son, you better see the world I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to leave**_

_**But remember one thing don't lose your head to a woman that'll spend your bread"**_

_**So I got out**_

An awkward chap waited behind the pool house, he'd slithered out there when Rennie had grabbed the syringe out of his hand and threatened to shoot another party girl full of it, you weren't supposed to use the whole thing, this was vamp blood, the kind of thing you savored, got naked and savored some more later. He shouldn't have trusted Rennie, she had been loose cannon from the start and he knew he wasn't going down because of some Dumb Dora. He'd stay hidden out at the Pool house until his vamp hearing gave him the all clear.

Sure, Jack Tempe hadn't been much of a star in 1925, but all the big guys were dust and he still had his "movie star" good looks and he was working.

What Jack Tempe lacked in star power he made up for in longevity.

_**I was accused**_

_**I moved on**_

_**I wasn't ready for that, no, no**_

"What the hell happened tonight?" Beth asked Mick as she leaned into the mirror, removing eye makeup.

"What bothers me is the immediate response by the authorities to an event at Josef's. He's not up for the inspection this is going to earn him." Mick paced the bedroom, glass of A+ in hand, "we didn't even have a chance to get the syringe out of sight, now we're having to rely on vamps on the inside to keep this under wraps" Mick's expression was worn and worried. "This had been exactly what Josef has been concerned about, you mix humans and vamps and sooner than later something goes awry". Mick put down the glass to rub his palms into his eyes, he was nervous for Josef, for the Tribe.

"What about us, we're mixing – are you saying we'll go awry?" Beth's brows knitted together, watching Mick in the mirror she realized she didn't really want to get into a discussion tonight, she wanted a glazed donut, and preferably a Krispy Kreme and a big glass of ice cold whole Milk. He moved in a heartbeat behind her and caught her shoulders in his palms; his fingers fell over her flesh tenderly as his lips lit on the top of her head. Again he took in a deep lungful of her scent and grew a mad smile across his lips.

"No, we're different; we're you and me…..not human and vamp. I'm not letting anyone label us. I've watched you for twenty some years… Now since we've been . . . . . together …."

In the bedroom Mick often spoke in euphemisms, his early 20th century upbringing bled thru his real time on the earth, "you can read my every thought. I love you, Beth". He might have spoken simple words, yet this was all she needed to feel at home and completely loved.

"Well if this is any help, I'll leave you a copy" Beth withdrew the flash drive from her bra as she walked over to the laptop on the edge of the bed table, "Want to take a look?"

"I'd rather conduct an in depth inspection of where it's been sitting for the last hour….How did you get that out?" Mick caught the flash drive from her hand to feel the warmth she had transmitted to it. He cradled it and then when it took on his cooler body temp he snapped it into the laptop. The images blossomed as the two of them pulled it onto the bed and lay on their bellies to scope out the clues. Once they made a run thru the images Mick seemed distracted, he had been silent, watching Beth out of the corner of his eyes.

Beth felt his eyes wash over her, like warm surf he relaxed her, it was so easy to float away in his arms… Mick's quixotic advances riveted her senses; every square inch of her skin danced under his hands, rose to his lips, and trembled with his breaching her.

"Sleight of hand, I swapped my empty drive with this one" Beth modestly shrugged with her sly grin rising along with her eyelashes as she peered up at Mick.

She was grateful to have the full nature of Mick in her arms again…..she felt they had come home together after his re-turning, she had her newly manageable heartbeat and he had his readjusted attitude about being a vampire … … . .

Together in bed they beat to each other's rhythm, Mick mesmerized by her heartbeat and the whoosh of her blood, Beth would surf the emotions he drew out of her until she'd swoon at his bite. Together they were more than a ying and a yang…..She was his moon and he was her stars in concert they were the night.

_**She took me up on deck and bit my neck, oh people I was glad I found her**_

_**Oh yeah, I was glad I found her**_

"Charles, grab this zipper, won't you Daddy?" Mandy backed up to Josef and presented the side zipper of her cocktail dress to him. Josef's whiskey eyes glowed as he bent close and grabbed the tab with his teeth and drew it down. The fringe shimmied as his cutie pie lowered the straps off her shoulders and the gold dress hit the deck of the schooner, the rocking of the boat only accentuated the movement.

"Did you get an earful of that Jack Gallagher? Who does he think he is? Just because he was the director, does he think he discovered me?" Mandy stood in front of Josef and held her breasts in her palms as she shook her tooshy at him. Josef enjoyed the view as Mandy pulled off the jet black wig to let her shoulder length titan tresses hit her creamy shoulders.

"He's a sap; he's what 45 years old? Between you and me we have what 500 years? I told you it would be worth to hang back, enjoy your investments and plan a cunning comeback" Josef walked up behind Mandy and he slid his fingertips down the sides of her hips. Her tap panties fell to the deck and she stood demurely in her jeweled shoes and stockings, like Venus on the half shell.

Mandy stepped smoothly across the room, as if gliding, standing right up to his side as he reclined on the chaise in the salon of the 160 foot schooner. She had two cut crystal tumblers in her hands, his was O+, hers was AB+, "Charlie, when you say cunning and come in the same sentence it gets me all bothered, you know?"

Josef extended a hand for his tumbler gave her a grin and replied, "That's what I was hoping for, Clara*, that's what I was hoping for…."

_**I firmly believe that I didn't need anyone but me;**_

_**I sincerely thought I was so complete**_

_**Look how wrong you can be**_

_**The women I've known I wouldn't let tie my shoe,**_

_**they wouldn't give you the time of day**_

Early Tuesday Morning, February 19, 2008

The sturdy low heels on her boots clacked on the linoleum floor as Beth made her way thru the main floor to the DA's office. It was all familiar, the route she'd cut to Josh's office… … … she felt awkward, dodging the stares of the office workers who remembered her as Josh's girlfriend.

It really didn't matter, she was here for professional purposes and beside she brought 4 fresh, warm Krispy Kreme donuts to share with Ben.

"Ms. Turner, thanks for coming in, you know I almost called you back last night. Your camera man had nothing on the memory of that camera….. But you knew that when you left – didn't you?" Ben sat on the edge of his desk, even though Beth would always see it as Josh's desk, especially that corner…..

"At the time I hadn't realized it, when I undressed later I realized it, but I knew I'd see you today and it's well before the 2pm deadline you had asked for" Beth wasn't cavalier, just pleasantly confident, "we have photos of all the couples as they came in …. Rennie was with her handler when she walked in, but I do have one of her with a man we didn't see the rest of the night" Beth pointed to the images on Ben's monitor, it was a larger monitor than Josh's had been, "Want a Krispy Kreme?" that caught the focus off the images when she held up the still warm wax bag to Ben.

"My Mother hates when I bring these home, sure I'll have one!" Ben noticed an odd look on Beth's face at the mention of his Mom, Ben offered as he walked to the coffee pot on the credenza. Beth watched as he pulled a mug off the tree, his hand went for the black mug and she spoke up.

"May I use the pink one?" She knew it was inane; she always drank from that pink mug. Ben stopped in mid grab and filled the black mug for himself then passed Beth the pink mug.

"So where was Rennie last time you saw her?" Ben leaned back on the desk corner, blowing the coffee before he sipped it.

Beth and Ben were tippy-toeing around each other prefacing their questions and responses in "Ms Turner", "Mr. Talbot". There were ghosts in the room, Beth's reticence was from straddling Josh in his desk chair after hours when she'd come in from a late report. It was the same chair Ben was heading around to sit in. Beth lowered her eyes into her coffee and chewed.

Then when the first donut slid down Ben's throat in 4 bites he laid into "Ms Turner", even though he really enjoyed blonds.

"I know these are still images, so it's just their body language that you have to interpret and that's not enough for evidence" Beth pointed to the series of photos, Rennie turning in circles holding a drink aloft, playing to a group of equally drunk observers. Lindsey Lohan would have been so proud.

"Well, in your venue that's enough to hang her by a jury of her peers" Ben's deprecating manner was beginning to prickle on the back of Beth's neck.

"What do you think BuzzWire is, Mr. Talbot?" Beth's voice nearly shook out of anger. Her stomach was going sour; the coffee hadn't been near as good as the coffee Josh had brewed. A bitter taste was developing in her mouth.

"A tabloid, whether it's on cheap paper or the web, it's just a generation from movie magazines…." Talbot's face drained to a sneer.

"Mr. Talbot, one of those news stories got Maureen killed and us tied together, in fear for our lives" Beth leaned in to stress her point; there was no way to cover her anger with Ben now.

"Let's just agree to disagree, Ms. Turner. What I want to know is... .. The day we were tied up at that doctor's office. . . We heard all hell break loose." Ben folded his arms and stood, wishing he had a more imposing façade. "Now I know our saviors were Mick and his boy billionaire buddy, Kostan". His lips twisted quizzically as Beth sat half lost in the last memory of being in this room. The other half of her was calculating exactly what Ben was expecting from her.

"I thought you knew who it was" The ball was in his court; Beth's expression mirrored Ben's.

"So St. John is Robin to his Batman?" Ben volleyed back, with a toss of his head back, almost an insolent nod.

The commentary pushed Beth back in the chair, almost with a snort at the consideration of Mick and Josef in a black Ferrari fighting crime in the streets of LA, "I doubt we have a "Men in Tights" scenario, they are old friends".

Beth sniffed at an odor in the room, old carpet, perhaps a sandwich in a drawer, the unpleasantness of it grew as she sat there.

"And you, kidnapped at age 4, police really didn't produce a lead and a P.I., wasn't the other day a bit much for you, didn't you have a déjà vu experience?" His voice dropped to a quiet bass.

That was it….. ….. ….. Beth was steaming, "That experience is not up for discussion, it's what you call a cold case?" He had upset her, made her sick to her stomach; she put the coffee cup on the desk opposite her, the sour taste of the bitter brew travelling back on her tongue.

She bit at her bottom lip as the taste and smell of kerosene permeated the room, she felt an overwhelming waft of heat from flames licking at wooden walls. Beth drew back palm and dragged it across her mouth, trying to escape the sourness of his words. She recalled the smell of old leather, the leather jacket her guardian angel wore as he carried her out of the room. Beth was frozen in the past, not frozen with his words yet Ben was none the smarter he thought he had scored one for hi team.

"Look, I had to know more about the person I was tied to, tell me you didn't Google me?" Ben was up on his fingertips, the posture of a silver back gorilla over his desk, instead Beth saw Josh leaning across the desk for a kiss, either way she stayed in her chair. He wanted to know what wasn't written, what was recorded in the heart and memory.

"You know" Beth inhaled deeply and bent to retrieve her satchel, "I think we are done, these photos are up already. Did you require anything else?" her chin raised she sniffed and swallowed.

"Ok, I'm not the bad guy here, Ms. Turner, it's my job to peel back the…

"Scab?" Beth fairly spat as she turned to the doorway.

"Cover, shed light in the darkness" Ben finished his sentence then sighed, with his entire body.

Beth walked to the doorway and turned, drew down from inside herself and smiled softly, "Mr. Talbot, once you know what is, in the dark it's a lot more comforting to walk amongst it" then nodded good-bye.

"Beth Turner" she swung the phone to her hear without reading the caller I.D.

"Beth, it's Josh, did you get my message?" Beth cringed at the thought of hearing the 4 voice mail messages she had from yesterday.

"You know, you know that death at the movie party? I was up late and then I had to go back into Talbot's office in fact I'm just coming out of his office, I'll bet you his mother had a loud bark" Beth stopped at the corner to think, she wasn't capable of walking and talking right now, she was that incensed.

"Why don't we take an early lunch, I had some things I needed to unload, well that wasn't how I wanted to say that…." Josh was getting flustered.

"You know, Josh, as much as I don't have the time, I know I'd feel better for making the time. How about I pick you up, we can get a table at that bistro on the beach". She was heading for "comfortable", relaxed; she was heading for a congenial meal with an old friend.

Based on his special request, she rang him from a few blocks away to give him time to limp to the curb; she admired the carved cane he threw into the front seat before he swung into the seat next to her. Once Josh was buckled in he nodded and patted her shoulder, "How are you doing, back at work already?" sure the tone was a little like a father to a daughter yet that was ok with Beth.

"Yeah, no rest for the wicked, right?" Beth nodded and kept her hands on the steering wheel as she pulled the car into traffic for the bistro.

"You, wicked?" Josh shook his head as he sat back, that's when Beth realized he ha 12 plastic envelope on his lap.

"That could be first-rate, only the good die young, right?" Beth pushed her sunglasses back up her nose as she tried to see what the envelope might say, she didn't want to ask.

"Then I'd say the two of us were equally lucky, right?" Josh watched the traffic on the street as the car pushed down the road, the beach-side bistro in sight. Beth nodded, her mind lost in the morning's conversations in a familiar place with an unfamiliar person.

"I'll pull up; use the valet park, OK?" Beth offered as she pulled to a stop, the valet opened the car door before Josh could oppose her.

They sat under the umbrella, watching the lunch crowd arrive as they reviewed the menu and sipped soda, Beth made a point of turning off her phone before their entrees arrived, Josh had called her for a reason and she wanted to give him his due.

"When we were together, you and I had some conversations about your dad" Josh started his dialogue as the server carried away his salad plate, he sat, hands in his lap while Beth finished spearing the ribs of romaine in her Caesar salad, "You always thought he was dead". Beth's eyes flashed confusion, amazement at his statement yet let him roll on, actually she was dumbstruck.

"Your father, is alive", Josh pulled a photo out of the envelope and slid it across the table for four set for two. Beth gingerly picked up the photo and searched for similar features, something that branded him as her father.

"Why did you do this?" Beth was incredulous, didn't her have something else to do?

"I don't know why it seemed like a priority, when we were together there seemed to be so many things that hinged on you knowing more about him" Josh sat silent for a few seconds, measuring his next words, had he lost his mind? Was Beth ready for more?

"Is this it? Any other bombs you want to drop?"Beth gently place the knife and salad fork in the bowl and pushed it away from her, swallowed gulps of tea and drew a long exhalation, "What else?"

"Bob had a family before he was with your Mom; he left her with a son."Josh's voice was deliberate, gently delivering this confounding news.

"Great, he was a serial father" the corners of Beth's mouth cringed at her own comment. Josh held up a cautioning hand, careful not to reach out to catch her hand. The last thing Josh wanted to do was put the "mash" on Beth or think that he was attempting to.

"Your Mom did a great job with you Beth; you know if you needed a kidney he might do the right thing."Josh tried to up-paint the scenario.

"So where did all this happen, did I grow up down the street from my own half brother?" Beth seemed comically flustered, preparing herself for the worst while hoping for the best.

"Funny you say that, your half brother is in the LA area, now" Josh pulled out the printed info he had put together and slid it to cover her Father's photo.

Beth nodded as her finger traced down the data, then her eyes flew open when she read the line, "Benjamin Talbot" Beth's head flew up from the page as her flat hands flew to cover her face, she wiped the heat from her face and looked at Josh, "For crying out loud, I spent this morning being cross examined by my own flesh and blood", Beth's hands slapped the table top as she shook her head in disbelief.

The server rounded the corner and saw their body language and backed off for a second, a platter in each hand, Josh saw her and waved her over. "We're good," he sat back to accept his plate and then leaned across the table, enunciating quietly to Beth, "Whatever happens, he doesn't know any of this, you don't have to act on any of this info. You can walk out of here after lunch and leave it at that"

"Well that's a little like collecting all the feathers after you've tore open the pillow on the mountaintop" Beth cocked her head and gestured with the fork before she tore into the chicken over the wild rice. Beth was silent as she ate her way thru half the oval plate, then she pointed the tines of the fork in the air, "excuse me, I know better, I am so sorry to be pointed and waving to hell and back" She chewed voraciously on the meal as she shook her head, "You know I have to say something…. "She took another bite and rolled her eyes as she invented her response.

"So, Josh, are you planning on going to work anytime soon? Or are you going to get entrenched into this investigation stuff?" her tongue sought to dislodge some food yet her expression left her looking a bit obstinate, a little wary and a whole of resentful.

Tuesday Evening, February 19, 2008

"Rennie was a casualty of the Hollywood drug wars" Josef paced his office, his shoulders rolling to pull the tension from his joints, "Starlets and wannabees grasping for the higher high" His hand mimicked a butterfly traveling upward,

"BC had spawned a cadre of vamp groupies, those few survivors held out for a replacement drug….and before I knew it someone from up north had realized their fatted calf would be an injectible drug, something called, "the Juice".

Josef finished his lap in front of his liquor cabinet and poured two glasses two fingers high, he sauntered to Mick, seated on the sofa; his ankle balanced on his knee his head in his hand, nearly tired from watching Josef pace.

Mick accepted the glass, "Nothing surfaced until your party, Josef; this is all going to come down on you"

Josef's lips curled, not at the scotch, at Mick's prognostication, "Then we have a dynamic problem calling for a genius solution"

_**And if they had the words I could tell to you to help you on the way down the road**_

_**I couldn't quote you no Dickens, Shelley or Keats 'cause it's all been said before**_

_**Make the best out of the bad - just laugh it off, You didn't have to come here anyway**_

_**So remember, every picture tells a story don't it, every picture tells a story don't it**_

_**every picture tells a story don't it, every picture tells a story don't it**_

_**To Be Continued...**_


End file.
